Sal-XK's Garage

[superacerc]

Yeah it's tricky where you need that washer. Don't want the two touching. I always use my meter to make sure that I don't have a continuous circuit between the middle node (+) and the ground.

Sometimes it's just tough to get these guys working right. What kind of meter are you using?

I've got a pretty neat device that tells you where the antenna is resonant without hooking anything up. It's called a grid dip meter and has vacuum tubes in it. It is from 1958 i believe. Makes it much easier to find out where the antenna is at (freq. wise).

[Sal-XK]

I have a swr meter from radio shack. While tuning I only got out of the red briefly down to 2 then I lost that and went back to 3

[superacerc]

Whoa... Those aren't known to be the most accurate. Maybe yours works better than the one someone gifted me but it's not easy to use or accurate in my opinion. I've got two seperate meters that measure forward vs reflected power (2 needles) and where they cross you can see what your SWR is. Wish I lived close by.

[Sal-XK]

I know it works or did before I started trimming anyways. What brand is good to get I can always return this one I got.

[superacerc]

Is yours the little small one with no adjustment knobs? If so it's not the same one i've got. It may be fine if you've tested it against others.
Nice ones are pricey. Heres a page with pretty much all reputable ones and their prices:
http://www.gigaparts.com/store.php?a...adio&showall=1

The jetstream ones should be a good bargain without breaking the bank. Daiwa and Diamond are great. If you do get one make sure it's range encompasses 26-27mhz. Most of these are either for 1-60MHZ range or 144+. You need the 1-60.

Again, yours might be ok. I'm just one of those picky antenna guys.

[Sal-XK]

Mine has one adjustment knob on it and few options for testing power and stuff like that. I'll try tuning my K40 tomorrow I hope it works because I paid like $40 for this thing.

[superacerc]

I hope everything works out. That site i sent you to has a good selection of stuff including CB stuff. Good luck, it's bed time cause i'm on duty tonight and i gotta work tomorrow.

[Sal-XK]

I couldn't tune my K40 either WTF! I got it down to 2 then it went back to three and I never got it back to two again. I've boxed this Radio Shack SWR meter up and I will be returning it tomorrow then I'll order one online and try again. It just makes me mad at $45 it wasn't a cheap buy and I may have destroyed my antenna because of it. I put my meter on everything and the ground is good to the mounting bracket and I have no shorts in any of the plugs or anything like that. I also pulled my spring off and tried that way as well no change doing that the meter is just garbage so people save your money and don't but buy one from radio shack.

[superacerc]

Try running another temp ground to one of the main chassis bolts under the bumper. Just for kicks. Some antennas require a meaty ground and just a regular one wont' do. A lot of ham radio guys doing 3mhz-50mhz antennas use a flat copper braid to obtain enough ground cause just one simple wire won't do it.

Or ....

It may be that meter.

[Sal-XK]

Try running another temp ground to one of the main chassis bolts under the bumper. Just for kicks. Some antennas require a meaty ground and just a regular one wont' do. A lot of ham radio guys doing 3mhz-50mhz antennas use a flat copper braid to obtain enough ground cause just one simple wire won't do it.

Or ....

It may be that meter.

Sounds like a plan thanks. I'll wait for my new meter I just need to order one LOL. The k40 is mounted to my XJ steel bumper so I'm assuming the ground is good there. Both radios sounded fine before I started tuning I'm scared to test them again LOL. I know the firestik come long so they can be trimmed to tune because you can't add to them makes sense I'm just hopping I didn't trim to much.